Finals conflict with program's spring break week

Intersession activities

Posted: Saturday, May 08, 2004

By Alisa DeMaoalisa.demao@onlineathens.com

Creativity - that was one of the guiding principles for not only students but organizers of the intersession activities provided this week for two Clarke County schools in a community partnership with the University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County.

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Because of the vagaries of scheduling, a spring break week with enrichment activities for Chase Street and Gaines elementary schools fell during final exams at UGA this semester. That not only interfered with the help organizers usually get from university students who were busy taking tests, but it also meant the activities happened too late for some university classes that have made them part of the curriculum in past semesters.

Both Chase and Gaines, which are on an extended calendar, have a break this week - the ''intersession'' - which like a similar fall break traditionally features enrichment activities in areas such as science and art for students at the two schools.

At most intersessions, UGA instructors make presentations and university students help with activities - in some cases, as part of their classes. Students from the recreation and leisure studies program usually come up with about a quarter of the programming, said Kent Kilpatrick, director of the Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services Department.

''We have maybe a fraction of the number of (UGA) students we would normally have,'' Kilpatrick said Friday. ''So our challenge has been to come up with things to fill that time that are creative and can interest the kids.''

Activities for the 120 children registered for the intersession have included storytellers and a visit to the Lyndon House Arts Center where they learned not only about art but about art exhibits, including installation and how to handle art. They also visited the Athens-Clarke County Library, Sandy Creek Nature Center and the new World of Wonder playground at Southeast Clarke Park.

''For many of these kids, who live inside the city limits or on the west side of town, that's somewhere they've never had a chance to go,'' Kilpatrick said of volunteer-built WOW playground.

Intersession organizers were able to get help from some UGA students - Richard Siegesmund, an associate professor of art education who has participated in the past intersessions, was able to integrate the enrichment exercises into the final exam for his students, who had to provide a hands-on activity for children. The two intersession directors - both graduate students in the recreation and leisure services program at UGA, organized their final exam schedules around the intersession.

''Meri (Cambre) and myself had been planning this since February, so we knew what we would have to do,'' Carly Robinson said of the plans she and her co-director made.

Substitute teachers and paraprofessional teachers' aides from the school district also provided their services, she said.

Clarke County School District officials have discussed moving the entire district to a ''balanced'' calendar that resembles the extended calendar Chase Street and Gaines elementaries have been on for the past two years. Those two schools also will not be able to afford the additional 15 extra days of instruction next year and will move from an extended calendar to a balanced calendar. The balanced calendar still stretches out the school year so that summer vacation is only about one month, but it builds in more break time during the year so students still attend classes the same number of days.

If the district decides to move to balanced calendars for all schools, the leisure services department will have to work at restructuring the services it provides, breaking up its summer programs, Kilpatrick said.

The summer programs would be shorter, and some resources would be moved to the mid-year break times instead. It also will challenge the department to come up with seasonal activities for other times of the year, he said.